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I was rejected for Social Security Disability Insurance. Can I still get OPM Disability Retirement?

Dec 23, 2016

I was rejected for Social Security Disability Insurance. Can I still get OPM Disability Retirement?

Posted By
The Law Offices of Eric L. Pines, PLLC

Social Security Disability Insurance requires the applicant to be unable
to perform Substantial Gainful Employment as a result of their medical
condition, which would essentially disqualify the applicant from working
at almost any job in order to meet this condition.
OPM Disability Retirement, however, only demands that the applicant be unable to perform one or
more critical elements of their most recent position description due to
their disability.

Clearly, SSDI holds the applicant to a more exacting standard. If a disabled
federal employee is accepted for SSDI, they have legitimate reason to
believe that their OPM Disability Retirement case is solid in this respect.
(There are other eligibility requirements to consider for OPM, and such
an employee would be strongly advised to pay close attention to completing
the application properly and to ideally retain an attorney with experience
in OPM Disability Retirement).

By the same token, though, if an individual is rejected for SSDI, it can
be simply because he/she CAN work and perform Substantial Gainful Employment
– only not in their most recent job, and may be the perfect candidate
for OPM Disability Retirement! In this instance it would be advisable
for the individual to
contact a law firm such as The Law Offices of Eric L. Pines, PLLC to evaluate the strength of their
case for OPM Disability Retirement.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.